My Flower
by AutumnRain16
Summary: Contrary to wizarding belief, Lily and James were actually normal people. They lived normal lives...not dangerous, exciting, genuis lives. This is their story...their normal story, their real story. REVIW MINE, I'LL REVIEW YOURS!
1. Society of Parentless But Gifted Childre

Disclaimer: This isn't mine. Its J.K. Rowling's idea. I'm just fascinated by the LilyJames thing...

A/N: This is just an intro chapter. I hope you like it...I like review by the way...they make me happy.

Society of Parentless But Gifted Children in Need of A Kind and Loving Home and Family

How could this happen to her? How could this happen to her family? They had never done anything wrong. They weren't criminals or anything. Of course it wasn't just her family. The rioters had burst into everyone's homes. The whole neighborhood was in shambles. But where would she and Petunia live now? They had no relatives. Her father was an only child and her mother had a sister who died of cancer. All of Lily's grandparents had died before she was born.

"Petunia? Are we going to live in an orphanage now? 'Cause I'm not sure I'm going to like that very much," Lily called across the hospital room where they had been taken after the riot. They had been the most bizarre rioters she had ever seen. They almost looked like ghosts, but they wore black. They must have had matches and torches beneath their cloaks because anything in their way kept spontaneously combusting.

"Lily! How many times do I have to tell you? We'll go to a foster home, not an orphanage. That's what Mr. Snydely told us. Cruel orphanages are just figments of your imagination. They only happen in books. Honestly, how dim can you be?

"You didn't have to overreact like that! I was just asking a question. I'm just a little frazzled after what… has happened," Lily looked down and stared intently at the book in her lap, trying to wrap her mind around the event's of the last week. As her eyes glazed over, she quickly looked up again. With all of her problems lately, this was not the time for one of her mysterious bouts of setting things on fire. She could still remember over her Christmas holiday when she had ended up frying her new book of magic tricks after trying unsuccessfully to perform a trick for her mother. Petunia had laughed at her and even her kind mother couldn't help but smile behind her hand. That frustration was overwhelming! She had wanted to scream, but then had smelt smoke.

"Ms. Evans, you have a visitor. A man from the 'Society of Parentless But Gifted Children in Need of A Kind and Loving Home and Family,'" the nurse looked slightly puzzled as she read the long title in a hurried breath, "I'll show him in."

As the nurse finished her mouthful of a title, Petunia sat up and primped. Lily subconsciously sank lower into the covers and attempted to disappear. A man followed the nurse into the cramped hospital room. He was rather peculiar-looking, the picture of wisdom. His gray beard that reached his chest added to his scholarly look.

"Hello sir!" Petunia chirped, determined to find a place in this prestigious-sounding society. With her fine grades in school, she could easily be considered gifted, while Lily's grades, due to her unpredictable temper and short attention span, left something to be desired. It had even been recommended early in primary school that she be left back a year in order to develop necessary social skills for later in life.

"Hello young lady. You must be Petunia Evans. I am, of course, delighted to meet you. Might I ask where your sister, Lily, is? Oh, never mind! There she is!" the peculiar man swung around to Lily's bed. He was surprisingly nimble for his age, "Apparently she is searching for her invisibility cloak! Never mind, Lily, I need to speak to you. So if you could kindly come up above the covers, we could converse?

"If you please sir. I think you must have us confused. _I_ am the one with good grades. Lily got held back and gets detention a lot because she _accidentally_ gives kids black eyes!" Petunia said in a sing-song voice.

Lily popped up indignantly, "That was only once. And you know I didn't do it! I was nowhere near Billy Harris! He deserved it anyway. It was recommended that I be held back. I wasn't actually held back. I don't even want to go to some special school. I like my school and my friends!"

"That will be enough, Miss Evans," a smooth voice cut into the girls' argument, which would have soon turned very heated, "I'm afraid that I am not mistaken. I'd like to speak to Lily please," the man opened the door to reveal a wheelchair for Lily to sit in. He wheeled her from the room and down the hall to the play area, which was currently empty because it was naptime in the children's ward.

"I'm not really very smart. Petunia's actually much smarter than me. You should take her! Really," Lily tried to get back into her sister's good graces even though her sister wasn't with her.

"You see Lily, there are several types of giftedness. I'm not looking for brains, although I'm sure they would help. I'm looking for a different kind of gift. You're born with it. By the by, I do doubt your assumption that you are stupid. From my research, you seem very intelligent, if a little uncontrollable at times. My name is Professor Dumbledore in case you were interested," Dumbledore pulled a peculiar tin of Lemon Drops from his pocket, "Now I will not go into complete details know, but I have arranged for a new home for you. Unfortunately, I will have to separate you and your sister, but many visits can be arranged if you like. Your new home is in the countryside. It is quite lovely. I believe the family actually has a daughter near to your age. We will be leaving tomorrow, as soon as I can get you released from this hospital. Your sister will be staying in a foster home close to here. She will just fine, in case you are worried for her safety."

A/N: Yeah weird ending. But it seemed like as good of place as any and I was tired of writing...Don't forget to review!!


	2. A New Family…A Weird One Too

Disclaimer: Ummm…yeah…not mine…Harry Potter…I'm not that brilliant…but J.K. Rowling is…

**A/N: I'm trying really hard to avoid the numerous clichés of LilyJames stories. And I'm trying to avoid Mary Sues, so it'd be great if you guys could help me to avoid that stuff. Just leave it in a review…I'd really appreciate that. I know people are reading this, because the first chapter got more than 50 hits. I'd love more reviews…I hope you like it.**

A New Family…A Weird One Too

The next day, after a fairly awkward subway ride with Professor Dumbledore, they reached a small pub called the Leaky Cauldron. Funny, she had never noticed it before. On city excursions with her parents, before the accident, she had come to London and walked down this same street, but had never noticed it before.

"Hello Tom! I trust you are doing fine?" Dumbledore greeted the hunched man standing behind the counter.

"'Ello Dumbledore. I see you have another poor victim. He-who-must-not-be-named is getting a bit out of hand don't you think? I assume you're taking care of it?" Tom questioned.

"Yes, yes. The Minister and I have a meeting later today. For now, I must take this young _muggle _orphan to her new home," Dumbledore hissed this last sentence.

"Oh, begging your pardon, young miss," Tom tipped his battered cap, "Have a nice day."

"Now Lily, I need you hold tightly to my robes, we are trying a new, experimental form of transportation today," Dumbledore took a pinch of powder from the jar on the counter and threw it into the fire, "Though, I assure you it is completely safe." Lily looked dubious but followed the instructions of her wise companion. She didn't know what else to do. Half of her wanted to forget this ridiculous society and go back to Petunia and the foster home. Another part of her was fascinated by everything that was going on and wanted to see what this peculiar man would do next.

Before she knew it, she felt like she was flying. It felt like a roller coaster, but with a lot more loops than she had ever experienced. Pictures flew past, like someone had hit fast forward on a videocassette player. Abruptly she came to a stop, and stumbled out of a fireplace. As her eyes adjusted to the scene in front of her she realized she was standing in a kitchen, similar to her own. A small family sat at the table.

"Well, that was a successful trip. I was worried that partner flooing might not be the best thing to subject Miss Evans to right now. She is not quite stable yet," Dumbledore brushed his robes off and helped Lily regain her balance. The woman sitting at the table smiled.

"And we'll do our best to help her with anything that she might need here. Won't we?" her husband smiled in agreement, but the girl sitting between them crossed her arms on her chest and looked at the floor.

"You'll have to excuse our daughter, she's having trouble getting used to having a sister. But she'll come around. Won't you, Beth?" the man glanced at his daughter before turning back to Lily and standing up, "I'm Devon Hale and this is my wife, Bridget, and my daughter Beth."

"Well, it's nice to meet you," Lily answered nervously. She already had enemies in this new house. Imagine what they're going to think when she sets something on fire! She better not unpack her things yet.

"I'll just show you to your new room so you can get settled in and washed up before we eat," Bridget announced, "Dumbledore, would you like to stay? I believe we cooked your favorite dish." She picked up Lily's bags and headed upstairs. Lily trailed after her, still apprehensive about being in her new home.

"You're sharing my room," piped up a voice behind Lily. Beth stood behind her with her hands on her hips, "I already separated everything. You have half of the room and I have half of the room with all of my things. I don't want you coming to my side, please." Beth shot a glance at her mother's back as Bridget headed down the upstairs hallway. Lily quickly followed Bridget down the hallway, a little daunted by Beth's insistent proclamation.

Lily could not help but notice the strange decorations covering the walls of Beth Hale's walls. She had a poster of a band called "The Tawny Owls" all wearing long brightly colored cloaks and carrying very bizarre instruments. As Lily gazed at the peculiar poster, she swore that one of the band mates on the poster winked at her. When Lily had walked into the room, Bridget had set her bags down on a colorful quilt and was tidying up her daughter's side of the room. She leaned a broom up against the wall, although the room didn't look like it had been swept recently and the broom was awfully neat compared to the broom her mother used to use to sweep her old house.

"Now Beth said you could use this armoire to put your clothes in and we set up this bookshelf and bed for you. Why don't you unpack your bags, wash up, and then join us for some food. Beth will tell you where the bathroom is," Mrs. Hale exited the room and returned with a rather disgruntled Beth. A large orange cat followed them in.

"This is Morgana. She's Beth's cat. It was her birthday present because she's going off to school. Same school as you actually," she turned to Beth, "Now stay in here and help Lily unpack her things," ordered Bridget. She bustled out of the room and could be heard going down the stairs shortly after. Without saying a word, Beth opened her armoire, removed what looked like a bathrobe and announced that she was going to go change.

"I hate these muggle clothes. They're so unnaturally tight," Lily heard her mutter. What could muggles be? Lily opened her own bags and began removing piles of clothing to put in her armoire. She propped up a picture of her family taken on their last holiday. Her parents looked so happy. Not like they would be dead in a few months.

She didn't really mean to look, but Lily couldn't help but glance into Beth's open wardrobe. Robes filled almost the whole space. A few sweaters and skirts were hung at the end of the rod, but other than that, a rainbow of "bathrobes" hung limply on the rod. The book on the nightstand was also rather bizarre. It was about Quidditch, whatever that was. Maybe a religion or something. Just as Lily went to examine the desk in the corner of the room, Beth flounced back in.

"What are you doing? I told you that I'd rather keep my things private. I don't want you over there. Come on. Let's go downstairs and eat. I'm hungry," Beth turned on her heel and left as abruptly as she had returned.

A/N: Don't forget to review. Even a few words are appreciated. If you review mine, I'm more likely to read and review your stores at least once. ** In fact if you review mine, it's a 100 guarantee that you'll receive a review from me.**


	3. Pointless Prats

Disclaimer: Too tired to write coherent sentences. Not Brilliant. Don't own Harry Potter. Wish I did. Wish I owned Disneyland too. I don't. 

A/N: So here's another chapter. I might be a tiny bit longer than before, but mostly I just wanted to update again…Don't forget to review. If you do…I'll review yours too…Enjoy!

Pointless Prats

When Lily arrived in the dining room for lunch, she was surprised to notice that there was another family in the room along with her adoptive family, the Hales. She nervously took a seat at the only open seat in the room, the one next to one of the boys from the new people at the table. He looked at her out of the side of his eyes and ran his hands through his hair. She looked at him and he quickly turned his head to the side.

"Lily dear, these are our neighbors, the Potters," Mrs. Hale announced.

"It's very nice to meet you, Lily dear. I'm sure it will be lovely getting to know you," Mrs. Potter assured Lily, "This is Mr. Potter and this is my son, James. He and his friend, Eric, will be attending school with you in a few weeks." Mr. Potter smiled and the boy next to here stuck out his hand for Lily to shake.

"It's very nice to meet you Lily," Eric said, attempting a charming smile. Apparently he thought he was a ladies' man. It didn't work.

"Same to you I'm sure," Lily took his hand and he shook it rather roughly. They all began eating after introductions were complete. The food was delicious and Professor Dumbledore called it 'especially delectable, like the house elves themselves had made it.' Lily glanced up at the mention of elves, but everyone else seemed not to find that odd at all. In fact, they all nodded their agreement.

"Mum? Can we go outside and play while you grownups talk about boring things?" James asked sweetly. He put on a winning smile and acted as only an only child can. Eric nodded vigorously in the background.

"You mean 'may you' and yes you may. Take the girls with you. I'm sure Lily would love a tour of the grounds around here. They're nothing like Hogwarts but lovely nonetheless," Mrs. Potter realized what she had said, and corrected herself, "I mean like your new school." She smiled benignly and turned to Mrs. Hale to discuss the recipes for the dishes she had cooked for lunch.

The grounds were lovely, just as Mrs. Potter had said. Lily caught up to Beth and walked beside her. She wanted to pretend that she and Beth were friends, even if Beth couldn't stand to talk to Lily. The boys were a little bit up the path playing and rough housing as they led the girls up the path.

"I am not!" Lily heard an indignant Eric shout to James. He pushed James and James pushed him back. Just playing like the adolescent boys they were.

"Are too. You just don't want to admit it. You think she's _pretty_. That's why you were being so nice to her in there," James said in a singsong voice. Lily realized that they were talking about her and she blushed quickly.

"Don't listen to them. They do that all the time. They've known each other for like ever. Just like I've known James for a long time. I used to fancy him. But now he's just being a prat. All the boys are. It's bloody stupid," a quietly bitter voice sounded at Lily's side. Lily looked at Beth surprised. Maybe she and Beth could sort out their differences after all.

When Beth and Lily caught up to the boys, who had left the path and had entered the woods on the side of the path. Eric and James were up in a tree. As the girls drew closer, the boys started throwing pinecones. Lily and Beth yelped and headed back towards the path intending to head back to the house.

"Beth! Red! We didn't mean it. Come back! We want to show you our tree house. We just finished building it last week. It's pretty great," Eric shouted back at them. James swung down from the tree and chased after them, grabbed their arms and hauled them back towards Eric.

"James let go. You're going to get us dirty!" Beth shrieked, struggling, but not too hard. Maybe she still fancied James a little bit. Lily resigned herself to James' insistent tugging and obediently followed him back into the trees. When they reached Eric, he was back on the ground and began walking deeper into the woods. By this time, James had removed his hands from the girls' arms. It was a little awkward having to touch them.

"We worked really hard to get all of this stuff up here. It took us days. Especially since we couldn't use any magic," James received an elbow in the ribs from Beth after this comment, "Not that magic exists or anything. I mean it was just a thought. Magic! What a stupid idea!" James finished with a forced sounding huff. Eric and Beth let out a long breath together. Lily looked perplexed. Something weird was going on around here. She could tell.

They all scrambled up the pegs nailed into the tree's side into a small room with one window that let in minimal light. It had a canvas roof and the furniture was made up of crates and pieces of wood. Food was stacked in one crate and several magazines about that Quidditch thing were heaped on the ground. Two beanbags were resting in opposite corners. A poster commemorating last year's Grand Rembrandt and the Screaming Banshees tour was tacked up on the wall. Eric and James immediately plopped into the beanbags leaving the girls with no choice but to stand.

"Oh! James! I forgot about these Bertie Bott's! I was really craving some of these today," Eric popped one of the aforementioned jellybeans into his mouth and grimaced, "Cat vomit! Gross…Here Rosie…eat one." Lily took the jellybean offered to her and placed it gingerly on her tongue. She had never heard of Bertie Bott's before and had certainly never even imagined a cat vomit flavored jellybean.

"My name's Lily actually. Not Rosie. That seems a bit tacky to me. Don't you think? With my hair and all…Oh! This is disgusting! What flavor is this one? Did you know this one would be almost like," Lily wrinkled her forehead and scowled, "…like earwax? That can't be possible. There's no such thing. Is there?" James and Eric just burst out laughing. Even Beth smiled a bit.

"No such thing! What a joke, Red! Of course there is…" James gasped for breath, "They're Bertie Bott's _Every-flavored Beans_ for goodness' sake. They mean every flavor!" The four kids stayed for another hour or so. This mainly consisted of James and Eric whispering back and forth to each other and occasionally bursting into laughter. Lily and Beth eventually sat down on the wooden floor and just watched the boys, each thinking their own thoughts. When the boys decided to leave, they scrambled down the ladder and walked off through the woods, leaving the girls alone. Lily decided that these boys were quite rude. She didn't really know them well enough to hate them, but they definitely weren't her friends.

A/N: Don't forget to review…My left big toe is telling me that **if you review…there's a 100 chance that I'll review something that you wrote**! See, if you make me happy…I'll make you happy in return!

AutumnRain


	4. Positively Slytherinish

Disclaimer: I own nothing of consequence. Except my fantabulous Dooney & Bourke purse I got on sale. The point is that J.K. Rowling owns Harry Potter… 

Author's Note: Sorry its very short, but I get impatient and then feel the incredible desire to update and then nothing can stop me. Anyway, I was also having a writer's block near the end…I hope you like it. Review because then I feel inspired and neglect my loads of honors homework and give up my dream of a 5.0 GPA and write instead.

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Positively Slytherin-ish

Lily awoke when Beth sat down hard on the edge of her bed. Beth had definitely grown friendlier as the days had passed. They were friends now…well almost. Beth was at least civil.

"You have a letter. It's downstairs at the breakfast table. Mother cooked us good food this morning. Come down when you're ready," With these words, Beth jumped up and headed back down to continue her breakfast. Lily had been here for a week and bizarre things still seemed to be happening. The other day, Bridget had begun making supper, a complicated roast, and ten minutes later, the family had sat down to eat the perfect roast. Many people had come calling, but no cars were ever seen pulling up to the driveway. They all had weird names and wore very funny clothes. As if they had gotten dressed in the dark. Polka dots and stripes. Lime green pants with a floral housecoat over them. And that was just the men.

"Here's your letter dear," Mrs. Hale said absentmindedly, "It's from your school." Lily was handed a funny parchment envelope addressed with emerald ink. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was written in the corner. She opened the rest in a daze. Wizards? Witches? Mugwump? What in the world was that supposed to be? She couldn't be a witch! There was no such thing. Or was there? Lily thought back to all of the weird things that had happened recently. James had mentioned magic. He had said it didn't exist, but he hadn't sounded very serious. That would explain Beth's strange clothing. All those robes. Would she have to wear the funny polka dot and striped clothes? Those were so tacky. Of course that explained her fire episodes. And Mrs. Hale's always superb cooking. And Dumbledore. It says that he was the Headmaster of this school. Magic wasn't really that difficult to imagine. Lily supposed most children had some fantasies about magic. But could it be true?

"Umm…Mrs. Hale? This is not some kind of joke is it? Perhaps something that Eric and James thought of? I mean can magic really exist?"

"Of course dear!" Mrs. Hale removed her wand from her sleeve and swished it, muttered a quick spell and held a bouquet of roses, "See perfectly real. Are you okay? Many muggle-borns have a difficulty accepting it at first."

"Yes, I suppose it makes sense," Lily whispered.

"Good because I can't tell you how difficult it has been for us, pretending to be muggles. We depend so much on magic, we don't even realize! Oh! Muggles are non-wizards by the way. I'm sure you were wondering…"

"Yes. Actually I have another question as well. Will I have to wear those bizarre clothes that your friends wear, the stripes and polkadots and such?"

"Oh dear! Of course not! They were just trying to fit into the muggle world! It wasn't working very well, was it?" Mrs. Hale laughed and winked.

All of a sudden Lily was struck with an amazing realization, "If I'm a witch, couldn't I bring my parents back to life? Or could Dumbledore do that? I mean that's what wizards and witches do," Lily was amazed by her own brilliance. Maybe that's why she had been chosen. So they could help her!

"Oh my! I'm so sorry dear, but that's not possible. It's not right. Even if it was possible, it would be very dark magic, which is like evil magic. We do not practice that type of magic. But everything will be alright, sweetheart," Mrs. Hale pulled Lily into a hug. She then visibly brightened, "Beth, Eric, and James will be attending school with you. You'll already have friends. Isn't that great?"

Lily nodded glumly. She had gotten her hopes so high. She blinked back tears and began to pick at her food. At that moment, Beth bounded in.

"Do we get to go to Diagon Alley today? Please! Please! Especially since Lily knows everything now!" she stopped abruptly at Lily's forlorn glance, "It'll make Lily feel better too! Shopping always make people feel better. Today is when Amber is going to be at Diagon Alley too. We were going to meet Eric and James there!" Beth put on her winning smile and clasped her hands together. Mrs. Hale sighed.

"I suppose that would be alright. Today is as good of day as any, right Lily? You'll like Diagon Alley. Now, Dumbledore took care of your parents' will, so we have the money already, but we must exchange it for wizarding money. Go get dressed. You can wear one of Beth's robes if you want," Lily looked at Mrs. Hale rather confusedly and Beth gave her mother a look as well, "Well, only if you want to. You don't have too if you don't want to." She trailed off as Beth ran from the room and Lily followed quietly.

Half an hour later and many minutes of Beth tearing through her wardrobe searching for an old robe that Lily could wear, they both walked back downstairs. Mrs. Hale was waiting by the floo powder and the fireplace.

"Now you're going to have to do this alone because I am not qualified to partner floo. It's easy enough. Just shout 'Diagon Alley' as you enter the fireplace and you'll be transported there. But get out quickly or you'll collide with the next arrival," Bridget explained to Lily.

Lily's trip by floo was fine, save for a near collision with an irate James Potter. She jumped out just in time and stood to the side as he stepped out brushing off his clothes and glaring at her, muttering under his breath. Eric followed soon after and they went off talking quietly to each other. Eric called back to tell her to remind Beth to meet them at Fortescue's around noon. What in the world was Fortescue's?

"Beth, Eric said to meet them at Fotishki's by noon. What is that?"

"Oh, Florian Fortescue's ice cream parlor. It's delicious," Beth answered offhandedly. Lily was on her good side apparently after relaying this very important message. She caught sight of her friend Amber and waved her over. Amber arrived and gave her a once-over. Lily was apparently sub-par as Amber quickly turned around and began chatting with Beth.

"So, when I was owling Eric this summer, he was totally friendly. I think he fancies me. Won't that be great? You and James, with me and Eric," Amber lowered her voice, "So Lillian, right? Is she nice? She looks quiet."

"I don't know. We don't talk much, really," Beth answered, "She's kind of haughty and stand-offish. Positively Slytherin-ish. I wouldn't be surprised, really," they both turned their heads back towards her and turned away giggling. Lily wondered if they knew she could hear them. And what in the world was Slytherin?

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Author's Note: Review Please!! All it takes is a simple…. Me like. Me no like. Me think you should fill in the blank.


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